diediealsomustdive
Senior Member
OK, so many reports already.
Just to add a few small pointers.
(1) If you want fast and cheap (but very good) lens, good for portraiture, then go for the 50mm f1.8. Should be below $200.
(2) Buy the camera with the kit lens.
(3) Don't know much about Sony and Pentax, but the Canon kit lens (18-55?) has a reputation that it is very good as paper weight. The Nikon 18-55 is nice and sharp, but not good as paper weight because it has a lot of plastic in it. Must handle carefully (you'll handle it carefully anyway, right?).
(4) Don't know much about the D40, some say it will only use AFS lense. AFS used to mean high-end lenses in Nikon territory. Recently they managed to "develop a new type of SWM motor" and give performance (almost) as good. Now the AFS (along with ED) don't mean very much anymore. And the 2 kit lenses are AFS, cheap, good optically, but build wise not fantastic (polite way of say lousy, but take it in context, I have old manual built-lilke tank lenses, but I also have the 18-55 kit lens for travel and family outing purposes). Must check out if D40 indeed can only use AFS lenses. If so, I would stay away from it as it seriously limit your lens choices.
(5) Oh and try to find out the reputation of the Sony (aka Minolta aka Konica Minolta) kit lens, and that of the Pentax and Oly, to be sure. Decide if they are up to the mark.
That gets you 10% of the way to getting your first DSLR. He he...
Last but not least.
(6) Go to a good shop with lots of patience. Pick up your choices, shot a few shots, simulate your requirements to understand handling. Then decide. (1)-(5) above would more or less take care of optical quality. So the most important thing is how do you like handling the camera? If the camera is the best in the world, but built in such a way that you don't like (e.g. I will never get the D2X or similar camera as they will give me bad backs), you should not get it.
After that, go shoot lots of photos and enjoy using it to capture the memories. Stay away from forum where people tell you the new XXX from YYY is so much better than your ZZZ....
By the way, Canon 3XXD series suck big time..... Kidding.
Just to add a few small pointers.
(1) If you want fast and cheap (but very good) lens, good for portraiture, then go for the 50mm f1.8. Should be below $200.
(2) Buy the camera with the kit lens.
(3) Don't know much about Sony and Pentax, but the Canon kit lens (18-55?) has a reputation that it is very good as paper weight. The Nikon 18-55 is nice and sharp, but not good as paper weight because it has a lot of plastic in it. Must handle carefully (you'll handle it carefully anyway, right?).
(4) Don't know much about the D40, some say it will only use AFS lense. AFS used to mean high-end lenses in Nikon territory. Recently they managed to "develop a new type of SWM motor" and give performance (almost) as good. Now the AFS (along with ED) don't mean very much anymore. And the 2 kit lenses are AFS, cheap, good optically, but build wise not fantastic (polite way of say lousy, but take it in context, I have old manual built-lilke tank lenses, but I also have the 18-55 kit lens for travel and family outing purposes). Must check out if D40 indeed can only use AFS lenses. If so, I would stay away from it as it seriously limit your lens choices.
(5) Oh and try to find out the reputation of the Sony (aka Minolta aka Konica Minolta) kit lens, and that of the Pentax and Oly, to be sure. Decide if they are up to the mark.
That gets you 10% of the way to getting your first DSLR. He he...
Last but not least.
(6) Go to a good shop with lots of patience. Pick up your choices, shot a few shots, simulate your requirements to understand handling. Then decide. (1)-(5) above would more or less take care of optical quality. So the most important thing is how do you like handling the camera? If the camera is the best in the world, but built in such a way that you don't like (e.g. I will never get the D2X or similar camera as they will give me bad backs), you should not get it.
After that, go shoot lots of photos and enjoy using it to capture the memories. Stay away from forum where people tell you the new XXX from YYY is so much better than your ZZZ....
By the way, Canon 3XXD series suck big time..... Kidding.
